Growing Old Ain’t for Sissies

When I was hiking in Yosemite several years ago, I approached an old gentleman hobbling down the trail on two crutches. He looked like he was about to take a tumble any second and end up in the valley thousands of feet below. As our paths crossed, he just looked at me and said “Growing old ain’t for sissies.” I admired his courage and determination to keep on living the adventurous life even though he was limited physically.

I’m starting to understand what he meant by his remark as I battle more aches and pains. Since being injured the last several months, I’ve noticed more wear and tear on this body of mine. The swimming I’ve been doing has caused my neck arthritis to flare up. Bike riding is hard on my shoulders and back, but like the old man in Yosemite, I refuse to give in.

As I was getting a cortisone shot in my heel (very painful) for plantar fasciitis last week, my podiatrist was telling me that he had to give up running because of getting older. Swimming caused him shoulder pain, so he gave that up too. What are we supposed to do? Weave baskets? Shuffleboard? Seriously people, I’d rather fall into the Yosemite Valley than sit in my rocking chair and die of boredom. I will keep on running, thank you very much.

The cortisone shot is working so far and I could probably start running, but am going to continue resting and cross training to give the foot some more time to heal. According to the doc, the pain could return in about three weeks, so I will wait to see how things progress. If the pain comes back, I will find a good physical therapist to work on my foot. In the mean time, my wife has found another remedy that might bring some pain relief.

Baltic amber necklaces are used for teething pain in babies. The succinic acid found in the amber penetrates the child’s skin and supposedly brings pain relief. The amber also reportedly heals, radiates soothing energy, calms nerves, drives away evil spirits, etc. So guess who’s been wearing baby Maddie’s teething necklace around his ankle. Poor baby. Well the pain’s gone now. Could it have been the cortisone shot or is there something to this amber necklace? (Remember it must be Baltic amber).

I had some nice bike rides using the new Springer Dog Jogger this week and I’ve done several walks with the dogs. They really enjoy the rides because they get to run fast and they are much more balanced when they’ve had a good workout. I hit the pool three times this week and stared at the bottom of the pool . I always feel energized after my swim, but it is really a chore to get through the workout.

We had some great sunsets this week, so I rode my bike to the mountain and took some photos. By the way, I’ve never seen a good sunset from the pool. You must get on the trail for that and we have the best sunsets out here in the desert southwest. No, growing old ain’t for sissies, so we just have to keep fighting back as long as possible. The old man in Yosemite knew exactly what he was doing. See you on the trail.